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On August 20, China's first domestically produced 3A masterpiece "Black Myth: Wukong" was officially launched. On the day of its launch, it broke many records and topped the global sales list. The related topics even became the hot search list on social platforms, attracting the attention of netizens. The popularity of this game has also quickly brought Shanxi's tourist attractions into the spotlight. According to relevant reports, this game involves 36 filming locations in Beijing, Shanxi, Yunnan, Hangzhou, etc., of which Shanxi Province, which enjoys the title of "China's largest ancient building province", has 27. These filming locations are all from Shanxi ancient buildings from different periods. They are reflected in the game with unique artistic styles and character images, attracting the attention of netizens. So what impact has "Black Myth: Wukong" brought to Shanxi tourism?

Author | Guo Yumin

Planning | Xu Yue

According to Ctrip, Tongcheng Travel, WeChat Index and other platforms, the search indexes for Shanxi tourism have increased to varying degrees. Baidu search shows that the Shanxi filming location of Black Myth: Wukong, temples, Buddha statues and other related searches have become hot topics for netizens. At the same time, the WeChat and Baidu search indexes and interest in 27 Shanxi tourist attractions have continued to grow. Major self-media have created short videos and soft articles to promote Shanxi. The video "Black Myth: Wukong" released by the Shanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism has received more than 100,000 likes and reposts. Netizens left messages calling on Shanxi's cultural tourism to seize this wave of "overwhelming wealth."

According to the information disclosed by major platforms, the 27 scenic spots involved in the game "Black Myth: Wukong" cover Datong, Yuncheng, Linfen, Jinzhong, Shuozhou, Changzhi, Jincheng, and Xinzhou in Shanxi. Datong: Yungang Grottoes, Hanging Temple, Shanhua Temple, Yong'an Temple, Huayan Temple, Jueshan Temple. Shuozhou: Chongfu Temple, Yingxian Wooden Pagoda. Xinzhou: Foguang Temple, Nanchan Temple, Nanshan Temple, Jinge Temple, Youguo Temple, Huiji Temple. Linfen: Xiaoxitian, Guangsheng Temple, Tiefo Temple. Jinzhong: Zhenguo Temple, Shuanglin Temple. Changzhi: Guanyin Hall, Chongqing Temple. Jincheng: Yuhuang Temple, Tiefo Temple, Xixi Erxian Temple. Yuncheng: Guanque Tower, Guandi Temple, Fusheng Temple. From a geographical point of view, these attractions run through the north and south of Shanxi, and there are many representative works of ancient buildings from various historical dynasties.

△The scenery of the Jade Emperor Temple in Beiyicheng, Zezhou County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. (Photo/Visual China)

So how can Shanxi's cultural tourism industry take over the traffic from Black Myth: Wukong and convert it into a conversion? I think there are mainly eight aspects.

First,Propaganda from all aspects to points,Continue to create topics.After the release of the game "Black Myth: Wukong", Shanxi Tourism, Chongqing Tourism, and Sanya Tourism all participated in "taking advantage of the traffic", promoting local tourist attractions, and creating the topic of "Follow Wukong to visit XX", kicking off a new wave of innovative and creative short video competitions. From the perspective of promotion, the author suggests that Shanxi Tourism focus on combining the content of the game with tourism. At the same time, the cultural and tourism bureaus and scenic spots of various cities and counties promote multi-dimensional promotions such as travel guides, humanities and history, folk culture, and gourmet specialties through short videos and live broadcasts, and continue to create topics through interviews, game competitions, Cosplay performances, etc. to enhance the popularity of tourism brands.

△ Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing. (Photo/Visual China)

Second,Convert online traffic into offline value.Promote customs clearance documents.With the release of the game "Black Myth: Wukong", the amount of user attention continues to increase. It is not only the game that has become popular, but also the 36 scenic spots in the game. Through real-life presentation + character plot + sound effects, the ancient buildings and Buddha statues have become more attractive to users, and static cultural relics have been given new life. Stepping out of the virtual game world and personally experiencing "Traveling in Shanxi with Wukong" has become a consumption trend. Therefore, I suggest that Shanxi Culture and Tourism launch "Black Myth: Wukong" travel cards, package products, and pass documents around the 27 scenic spots to drive the check-in experience of the game user group.

The third is to develop scenic spots + "Wukong" surrounding cultural and creative products.In hotels around the scenic area, the "Black Myth: Wukong" e-sports theme hotel was launched, and theme travel photography, refrigerator magnets, souvenirs, costumes of characters related to the scenic area in the game, dolls, backpacks and other peripheral cultural and creative products were sold online and offline to generate economic benefits. Of course, these cultural and creative products should be based on the scenic area scenes and scenic Buddha statues to create creative derivative products, and avoid using game names and pictures to cause infringement.

The fourth is to create a "Wukong+" special tourism route.Drive tourism in the entire region.The game scenes involve 27 scenic spots in eight major cities in Shanxi. According to the theme style, historical stories, geographical location and other characteristics of the scenic spots, multiple themed tourism products are designed for tourists to choose from. For example, there are six scenic spots in Datong City involved in the game (Yungang Grottoes, Hanging Temple, Shanhua Temple, Yong'an Temple, Huayan Temple, and Jueshan Temple). Different themed tourist routes are created around the scenic spots + surrounding characteristic scenic spots, cultural and tourism blocks, food experiences, etc., which will drive the surrounding scenic spots and business formats and promote the development of whole-region tourism.

△The brilliant cultural landscape of Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi. (Photo/Visual China)

Fifth, innovate product content.Improve service quality.The purpose of this communication cooperation around the game "Black Myth: Wukong" is to boost the popularity of Shanxi tourism and the sales of tourism products. Netizens learned about the tourist attractions in the scene through the game. The key to catching this wave of "breaking traffic" is the quality of tourism product services and the attractiveness of service content. Therefore, we must first innovate in product content, coordinate and link between scenic spots, business formats, and cities, give users a different product experience, and achieve good word-of-mouth communication. The second is to improve service quality. We will comprehensively analyze the shortcomings of the 27 scenic spots in terms of environment, tour guide quality, surrounding business formats, service attitude, etc., and propose improvement plans. In particular, some tourist attractions have timely issued announcements or implemented opening hours due to renovations and other factors. The various regulatory departments, cities, and scenic spots have strengthened coordination and linkage to provide tourists with high-quality tourism services and implement "Tourism Satisfaction in Shanxi" with practical actions.

Sixth, open up new ideas and expand the scope of cooperation.Seize development opportunities.Since the beginning of this year, a series of marketing and communication initiatives, from "Involution of Four Provinces in the Mountains and Rivers", "Concert Economy", "Traveling with Hui in Shanxi" to "Black Myth: Wukong", have continuously increased the popularity of Shanxi tourism and expanded its influence, creating a continued hot summer tourism market in Shanxi. Focusing on the cooperation of the "Wukong" game, Shanxi needs to further explore ideas and extend the content of cooperation, so that each cooperation can go deeper, more practical and detailed, promote more cross-border cooperation, and continue to empower the high-quality development of Shanxi's cultural tourism.

Seventh, make good use of the three tourist roads.Layout of the car rental service market.As we all know, Shanxi's tourist attractions are scattered and not concentrated. Although the large-scale transportation infrastructure services are constantly improving, they still remain unchanged. In recent years, the Shanxi Provincial Government has vigorously promoted the construction of the "Yellow River, Great Wall, Taihang" tourist highway. Through the three tourist highways connecting major tourist attractions in Shanxi, it has driven the development of regional tourism and provided more convenient conditions for self-driving tourists. Therefore, Shanxi Culture and Tourism should carry out in-depth publicity around the travel guides, theme features, beautiful scenery, humanities and history of the three tourist highways, so that more self-driving tourists can have an in-depth experience. In addition, around the problem of scattered tourist attractions, we should focus on the layout of car rental services and inter-city tourist through buses in Taiyuan, Jinzhong, Yuncheng, Datong and other places to provide tourists with a more convenient way of travel.

△ Aerial photo of Taiyuan Xishan Tourist Highway. (Photo/Visual China)

Eighth, technology empowers cultural relics to move.Improve visitor satisfaction.Shanxi is the land of cultural relics. The cultural relics in Shanxi account for more than 70% of the total number of cultural relics in the country. However, from the perspective of tourist experience, static cultural relics and ancient buildings are not attractive enough to tourists. After watching the video promotional film of "Black Myth: Wukong", the shocking sound effects and 4K high-definition pictures can fully stimulate the emotions of netizens and arouse their interest. Therefore, in terms of digital activation, we can refer to "Black Myth: Wukong" to create an immersive VR experience around Shanxi cultural relics and ancient building resources, and follow Wukong to travel around Shanxi with a dome flight experience, so that tourists can feel freshness, participation, atmosphere, emotional substitution and satisfaction in the interactive service.

For Shanxi's cultural and tourism industry, brand building from products, industries to destination ecology needs to keep pace with the times like the "Wukong" in the game, pass each level of communication, marketing, products, services, etc., and form a unique cultural and tourism marketing combination to achieve high-quality development and become the omnipotent "Sun Wukong".

About the author: Guo Yumin Shanxi Cultural Tourism Group

Deputy Secretary-General of Shanxi Cultural and Creative Industry Research Association, Director and Special Researcher of Shanxi Experts and Scholars Association, and invited expert and commentator on multiple platforms in the cultural and tourism industry.